Television content is delivered to users in many different ways, and in many different formats. For example, a user may subscribe to a cable or satellite television service to access high definition or alternative language versions of certain channels. While cable or satellite receivers may be able to identify the channel that a user is watching, such TV receivers often do not send this information to the television or other attached media devices. Often, they send only a bare TV signal without additional meta-information, so that other devices are unable to determine what channel is being viewed. In some cases, televisions or other media devices may benefit from having access to meta-information of the viewed channel in order to customize a user experience based at least in part on that information.
Accordingly, it is highly desirable to provide systems and methods to determine what channel a TV receiver is outputting for display to a viewer.